Twin compartmented container for shipping long stemmed flowers



April 30, 1963 T. c. KITCHELL TWIN COMPARTME NTED CONTAINER FOR'SHIPPING LONG STEMMED FLOWERS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 15, 1958INVENTOR 720mm- 676mm ATTORNEY Apnl 30, 1963 'r. c. KlTCHELL TWINCOMPARTMENTED CONTAINER FOR SHIPPING LONG STEMMED FLOWERS Filed Aug. 15,1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. ii/o/wve 6f Maw 44 HTTOF/VEY UnitedStates Patent Ofi ce 3,087,666 Patented Apr. 30, 1963 3,087,666 TWINCOMPARTMENTED CONTAINER FOR SHIP- PINGLONG STEMMED FLOWERS Thorne C.Kitchell, New Providence, N.J., assignor to Union Bag-Camp PaperCorporation, New York, N.Y., a corporation of Virginia Filed Aug. 15,1958, Ser. No. 755,303 1 Claim. (Cl. 229-15) The present inventionrelates to improvements in packing and shipping containers. Moreparticularly it pertains to an improved box for packing and shippingfresh flowers such as gladiolus and the like.

More and more of the supermarkets are selling fresh flowers until it hasnow become a lucrative business for the supermarkets and a boon to theflower growers. One of the most popular sellers is the gladiolus. Atpresent the box in use for shipping such flowers from the grower toeither retail florists or supermarkets holds 25 dozen flowers. This is adisadvantage because many of the smaller retail outlets cannot use thatmany which means that the packaged unit has to be broken up. The box ofthe present invention overcomes this disadvantage by providing a unitmade up of twin sections each of which holds -12 dozen flowers. Thesetwin sections are held together by top and bottom caps and shipped as aunit. If the retailers do not want to take the full 24 dozen, there isno handling involved in splitting the shipment. Shipments made to dateindicate that this twin box has been very well received, particularly bythe food chains. It will also be apparent that the unit of the presentinvention can be designed to hold more than the two sections hereindescribed so that multiple sections can be shipped and handled in thesame way. This results in a distinct advantage and convenience withperishable items such as flowers.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a box of thecharacter stated, which is simple in design, rugged in construction,economical to manufacture, and can be shipped and stored in unassembledform in flat condition but can be easily and quickly set up.

Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and will in partappear hereinafter.

The invention accordingly comprises an article of manufacture possessingthe features, properties, and the relation of elements which will beexemplified in the article hereinafter described and the scope of theinvention which will be indicated in the claims.

:For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention,reference should be had to the following detailed description taken inconnection with the accompanyin g drawing, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a filled and taped box embodying theimprovements of the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view showing the respective parts of the boxin separated relationship;

FIGURE '3 is a perspective view of one of the container sections of thebox;

FIGURE 4 is a sectional view on the line 4-4 of FIG- URE 1;

FIGURE 5 is a sectional view on the line 5-5 of FIG- URE 1;

FIGURE 6 is an end view of one of the container sections showing theclosure flaps stitched in place.

Referring :more particularly to the drawings, FIGURES 1 and 2. show twoduplicate contain-er sections 10 and two duplicate caps 11. Each ofthese pieces is of one-peice construction and may be made of corrugatedboard or other suitable fibrous board. They are suitably cut and scoredor creased along certain lines to facilitate formation of the box of thepresent inventionand are supplied to thecustomer in flat condition.

Each container sectionltl is made up with a series of wall panels 13,14, 15 and 16, flexibly connected together along fold lines 17, 18 and19. The ends of the panels 13 and 16 are connected together by suitablemeans, for example taping or stitching, so that a tube is formed. Theends of each section are formed by flaps 20, 21, 22 and 23 flexiblyconnected to the panels 13, 14, 15 and 116 respectively along the scorelines 24, 25, 26 and 27 (FIG- URE 3). The flaps at one end are foldedinwardly along the latter score lines and secured in place with adhesiveor staples 28, as shown in FIGURES 1 and 6; the container section isthen filled with flowers; and the other end is closed in a similarmanner. The panels of each section are die cut to provide hand holes 29and ventilating holes 30.

Each cap 11 is of conventional and well-known construction. It consistsof a top base 31 having depending flanges 32., 33, 34 and 35 along thesides thereof. The flanges 33 and 35 have extensions 36 which are foldedinwardly and stitched to the other depending flanges 3-2 and 34. Afterthe caps have been placed over the ends of the container sections 10,gummed tape 37 may be applied for holding the caps to the sections.However, if the caps are made to fit tightly over the containersections, they will be held in place by friction without any tape orother means.

As can be seen from FIGS. l-3 of the drawing, the height of the sideflanges 3'2, 33, 34 and 35 of cap 11 is substantially equal to the widthof each of the end panels of the container, end-s 13 and 15, forexample.

Thus, it will be apparent that the herein disclosed invention provides anew and useful box which is particularly adapted for the packing andshipping of fresh flowers and which embodies the features heretofore setforth. Since certain changes may be made in the above article, anddifferent embodiments of the invention could be made without departingfrom the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in theabove description (and shown in the accompanying drawing) shall beinterpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended tocover all of the generic and specific features of the invention hereindescribed, and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as amatter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent is:

A shipping box which forms a shipping unit of twin sections adapted tobe split into single container sections each holding for shipping andstorage long-stemmed, freshly cut perishable flowers therein withoutunpacking both sections comprising a pair of one piece tubular containersections of rectangular cross section forming twin sections, eachtubular container having folded and connected side and end panels withtop and bottom closures and each section being of substantially the sameheight with a side panel of each contacting the other in face-tofacerelation and with the corresponding end panels being in abuttingrelation in both sections; each of the end closures consisting of flapsintegral with the sides and foldingly connected to and extending fromeach of the sides, said flaps being adapted to fold inwardly for quickclosing and to unfold for quick opening; frictionally held, removableend caps for the tops and bottoms of the adja cent twin sections for-medof a rectangular base member conforming in size and shape to thecombined tops and bottoms of said adjacent sections, each of said endcaps being provided with four depending flanges extending upwardly fromthe respective sides of said base member for frictionally engaging topsand bottoms of the twin sections along the sides thereof, each of saidflanges overlapping in the length thereof the side and end panels ofsaid tubu- Jar sections for easy movement in telescopically fitting andremoving the caps from both top and bottom of the tubular containers,and ventilating holes distributed in the sides of said tubular containersections permitting access of air through said sides to the flowerscontained inside each of said twin sections and means facilitatingconveying said shipping box.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS WalterJune 24, 1930 Dalton Sept. 1, 1931 Goebert Sept. 28, 1937 Flamm Sept. 5,1939 Montague Jan. 21, 1947 Props Feb. 6, 1951 Zelonka Sept. 25, 1956Krukonis July 21, 1959

